The Girl Scout cookie drive is in full swing and, as in the past, the 100-year-old organization expects to profit handsomely from truckloads of thin mints, caramel delights, shortbread, and other favorites sold by a nationwide army of green-clad girls to family, friends, neighbors, teachers, and complete strangers. But a few pro-life and pro-family groups are recommending a boycott of the cookies this year because of the Girl Scout (GSUSA) organization’s partnership with Planned Parenthood, its practice of allowing sexually confused boys to join its ranks, and its reported promotion of pre-marital sex among the girls it mentors.

As tension mounts over the Obama administration’s ill-advised mandate requiring religious employers to include free contraception in their insurance coverage, one lawmaker is pushing back against the White House with a legislative countermove.

Following months of high-profile pressure by pro-life groups concerned over its ties to the abortion industry, Susan G. Komen for the Cure, one of the nation’s largest breast cancer charities, announced that it was halting its long-time funding of Planned Parenthood, the nation’s leading abortion provider. As reported by the New York Times, the long-anticipated move will cut funding to 19 of Planned Parenthood’s 83 franchises, which have received money from Komen since 2005.

A battle appears to be brewing between the Obama administration and the Catholic Church over the President’s insistence that religious employers provide free contraception coverage in their insurance plans. As reported January 23 in The New American, the White House announced “that under its 2010 ObamaCare medical legislation employers will be compelled to cover birth control for women free of charge, including controversial contraceptive drugs which can induce abortion early in a woman’s pregnancy. The administration rejected an appeal from religious organizations, led by the Catholic Church, for an exemption on insurance provided to employees of religious institutions such as hospitals, colleges, and charities.”

As Washington's legislature works diligently to force homosexual marriage on its constituents, one of the more high-profile corporate entities in the Evergreen State has volunteered to help. In a January 24 statement, Starbucks vice president Kalen Holmes announced that the coffee retailing giant was proudly joining “other leading Northwest employers in support of Washington State legislation recognizing marriage equality for same-sex couples.” Holmes emphasized that the measure, which would legalize homosexual partnerships as equal with traditional marriage, “is aligned with Starbucks business practices” and is “core to who we are and what we value as a company.”

The Obama administration announced January 20 that under its 2010 ObamaCare medical legislation employers will be compelled to cover birth control for women free of charge, including controversial contraceptive drugs which can induce abortion early in a woman’s pregnancy. The administration rejected an appeal from religious organizations, led by the Catholic Church, for an exemption on insurance provided to employees of religious institutions such as hospitals, colleges, and charities.

For the pro-life movement, 2011 was a banner year. According to the group Americans United for Life (AUL), a total of 47 state legislatures introduced 460 pro-life bills, ultimately implementing 70 laws designed to protect the unborn and their mothers. From de-funding Planned Parenthood, to informed consent laws, to measures designed to discourage abortion among minors, more states pushed more pro-life legislation than ever before.

Mayors of more that 70 U.S. cities have joined forces in support of fully legalizing homosexual marriage. According to the Associated Press, the mayors of New York, Boston, Houston, Los Angeles, and San Diego announced that they would co-chair the group Mayors for the Freedom to Marry, which was launched January 20 during the winter meeting of the U.S. Conference of Mayors in Washington, D.C.

A British-based pro-life leader said that a recent study by two influential organizations supposedly showing that “unsafe” abortions are on the rise is nothing more than pro-abortion propaganda.

As she heads into the last year of her tenure in the state of Washington, Democratic Governor Christine Gregoire (left) has a handful of policy initiatives she would like to push through to pad her political legacy: balance the state’s budget, raise state revenues, create some jobs to help the economy, improve education. And force through a bill legalizing homosexual marriage.